Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-02-10
LUCAS SPEECH.
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accumulation of wealth and power and
property This is rs an erroneous view.
Ii is true that the Standard has been man.
aged with ability. The greatest foresight
and audacity were required to conceive
the monopoly and to obtain from the
railways the fIvOrS which established
it. Ii 4 highway rObber should gain vast
plumber 10y bribing the railways and the
courts to let him rob trains with impunity
his remarkable holiness Of conception and
SOundneSs of Judgment in selecting his
tools would be acknowledged. But he
would owe his wealth not to his ability,
but to the neiariOuS corruption and viola
ton of duty on the part Of those whose
business it is to protect the public. In like
maLner the ability and energy of the man
ugers of the Standard Oil Company would
never have given them more than local
importance, if they had not been favored
by the railways with rebates and privileges
that enables them to crush competition.
Nor could that monopoly been maintained
without the corruption Of Legislators and
the bribing OF public officers"
Now, this author is not a politician hut
a patriot. lie IL rs paSsion!eSs rs truth
itself; rs impartial rs science, and ~ color
less aS art frozen into the whiteSt marble.
Until reiuted by some higher authority
we must believe him, and to believe that
ne represents the patriotic sentiment OF the
country in regardtO the attitude of our SEN
ior Senator, who is demandinglrOm usa
reelection Tor another term Of six years.
[, therefore, beg leave TO quote from this
author still further:
Z Two Senators in the present
congress represent, III name, different
STATES, hut in reality one great petroleum.
r, tiniug corporation aud master OF the
trunk lines. One Of them was \ member
IT the House of Representative II the
Forty-fOurth Congress. Whether the
standard oil Company has any immediate
object to gain from the National Govern
ment does not appear; and perhaps its re-
rent acquisition of u seat in the Cabinet
and two seats IN the Senate are simply
luxurieS, such rs o]yergrown riches can
afford To indulge in. But in the lower
House these gentlemen were OF use Ia the
corporate cause, in SmOthering II Of the
aTlieSt attempts at Congressional inquiry
INTO the determinations which made thai
monopoly a success. Tn May Ii, lo16, 4
ftsolution WAS introduced in the House al
Representatives for investigating diScriml
nations, which 10y the objections OF MIR. 81.
q. PAYNE, then a member from the Clere'
land district, Wa first deferred
then put in the hands Of the Com
mittee on Commerce. There Mr.. j.
Y. Camden, the head OF the West
Virginia branch Of the Standard Oil Com
| pany, appeared rs the adviser Of his repre-
sentative, the Chairman of the committee,
and after a perluuctiOnaTy opening OF thu
Investigation, bad it Shclyed, the question
arising whether MIR. \. J. CaSSatt, OF tn,
| Pennsylvania railroad, should be forced t.
| testify on the subject at special contracts
The present prominence OF the question
would make it impossible for Senators
| PAYNE and Camden to smother mveStIga
| ION in the Senate. but that they may yet
IN some way serve the canSe OF monopoly
IS not the less probable, because Senator
| Camden assumes the guise Of 4 legislator
Who is in favor Of restricting railway
abuses"
Now. Mr.. President, this is the impress
| sion which our senior Senator's career ha
made upon this distinguished author, ant
am bound To Sly that | entirely concu
i'm the view here presented. When thOS'
with whom / act and myself commences
the agitation for the regulation of rallwa,
charges and the prohibition OF rebates am
determinations by National and State lee
islation. in 1872, Mr.. Camden and his fol
lowers were uneOmprOmiSing IN then
hostility to all such measures. In lN19, n
stood out in cOntemptO o Our Legislature an
refused 10 exhibit the books or surrende
the rebates of the Standard Oil Company
He voted against the Reagan bill, becans
he favored a commission, q feature In tn
legislation upon this subject of doubtful
Constitutional authority, and pregnan
with danger to The interests Of a small an
intermediate State like West Virgins
Upon every other important question h
has stood ont in bold a~ntagOnism to wha
we believe to he true Democratic doctrine
l cannot find that he ever took the slight
est interest in the Interstate Commerc
bill until the latter part OF the 49th Con
rreSs, when his own reelection becam
an interesting prize, Staked upon his ieSl'
latiye record.
Believing, therefore, as l do, that MI
Camden is the representative of n Con
mercial Crime" the Standard Oil Con
pany; that he represents the new phaze
a House of Lords in miniature; that all {
his principles are opposed to Democracy
and all his methods antagoniStic to pHr
government, I cannot and will not SUI
port him. My duty to American inStltu
tons fOrbids il.
But | am told that a caucus OF Demo
cratic members Of this Legislature ha
been held, and that party usage and organ
ization demand that / should vote for tn
nominee.
Let us for a brief space inquire into thi
question. What is the character Of til
duty which we are to perform in this join
Assembly? 1t is not Legislative, becaus
the Governors assent to our action Is &c
: required. It is not executive, because "
have no such function. 1t seems TO M
that, as in cases of impeachment so !
eases of election, when We meet here =
Joint Assembly 70 elect, We do under o.
$3.50 80 .HT nr. -